Interview on 2008 Presidential Campaign

I interviewed my dad on the political candidates. His past in Switzerland greatly affected his views on what he thinks needs to be changed.

Q1:Which political candidate do you currently support?
A: I currently support Barack Obama.

Q2:Why do you support this candidate?
A: I think the world needs change.

Q3:How do you think this political candidate will help the U.S.?
A: Obama would help the U.S. change the way the world would view the U.S. and act accordingly.

Q4:Why do you not support the opposite candidate?
A: I believe that the country will not be changed if McCain is elected.

Q5:How do you think the media has changed this political candidate's views?
A: I think he learns what the media wants and adjusts. Not necessarily to just get votes, but to know what the media needs.

I believe my father is an intelligent man and knows the reasons why he supports Obama. His history had a major impact on who he chooses to vote for. I received a lot of input from my dad's answers and explanations and understand where he stands.

Who will Win Alaska?

In our math class this week, we chose a state and predicted the outcome of which presidential candidate will win. I chose Alaska because of its importance of oil drilling. During Mr. Kelly's assignment for our PBL blog, we had to research oil drilling, global warming, and nuclear weapons. I found out that Alaska has a huge oil reserve and I was interested in this issue and so, I chose Alaska for my state.







According to the percentage of votes, it seems like McCain is going to win Alaska,unless Obama makes a change that is going to greatly affect the people of Alaska before November 4. Though both candidates number of votes are steady, McCain has a greater number of people voting for him. These predictions should quite accurate, as long there are around the same number of people voting from each side.

Candidates' Policies on Technology

Barack Obama's Policies

Obama is described as more activist on technology than McCain. His policies are directed more towards making the Internet available to everyone. He says that the future will rely on how far our technology will stretch. He wants all schoolchildren to be able to have access to the Internet. He also wants people who live in rural areas to be able to have access to the Internet so they too, can be informed.

John McCain's Policies

John McCain is more like the opposite of Obama when it comes to technology. Though, he wants to induce a program that offers tax and financial benefits to companies which provide broadband service for low-income and rural area users. He also wants to hire people who are experienced with technology into the government to help with education, health care, homeland security and other issues.

McCain's Position on the Ten Major Issues

Abortion: McCain is pro-life and doesn't believe in abortions. Unless the pregnant mother's life is in danger, there won't be any abortions, even if she was raped.
Education: McCain believes that parents should be able to change their child's school if the school is not meeting their expected needs. He also believes that schools should be able to compete against each other to see which have more effective teachers.
Death Penalty: McCain is pro-death penalty and believes there should be more prisons and penalties. He believes if a person goes and kills a mass of people, he shouldn't have a single chance to escape. Although he is for death penalties, he voted yes for limited death penalty appeals.
Environment: McCain wants to clean up the climate, develop green technologies, and use alternative energy resources for fuels for cars. He says these will improve our economy and create millions of jobs for people.
Health Care: He wants to give each family $5000 refundable tax credit for health care plans and each individual $2500. He also wants health care records online to reduce costs, and put health records online to reduce medical errors.
Immigration: John McCain wants to tightly secure border control for a number of reasons. Illegal immigrants have been crossing the border and have been committing numbers of crimes. They've also taken over a lot of Americans' jobs because they will do hard labor for less. He wants to deport the two million illegal immigrants and help the legal immigrants transition into the country.
Iraq War: John McCain is a military veteran who has served in the U.S. Army in his early life. He believes that the war is just and does not plan on removing the troops from Iraq anytime soon, unless the war gets to the point that the U.S. is sacrificing lives and money for no reason.
Economy: McCain says that the U.S. is in a $10 trillion debt and our generation has to pay for it. He also says that due to the greed of Wall Street, Americans have to pay for it. He says that he has an extensive economic plan that will give Americans millions of good jobs and restore the government's spending and budget.
Poverty: McCain says that low and middle-income Americans need more help. Although he will help fund them, he requires forty hours of work per week from welfare recipients, because otherwise they could do nothing will they get paid.
Stem Cell Research: John McCain opposes stem cell research that deals with human cloned embryos. Though, he agrees to fund adult stem cell research.

Mission Statements

Barack Obama: A new change for the country, a new change for the future.

John McCain: Fighting to bring back hope for his country.

Obama on the Issues

Abortion: Obama supports pro-choice. He wants to let women decide on whether they want the baby or not. He also wants to teach more teens in the U.S. about abstinence and contraception and the importance of sexuality to reduce unwanted pregnancy.
Education: Obama plans to pay more and hire more teachers for their work. He also wants to teach kids about evolution and science alongside religion. He wants to give students a free public college opportunity if they have a B average.
Death Penalty: Obama wants death penalties to be carried out carefully and fairly. Though, he wants to reform some death penalty laws by listening and compromising.
Environment: Obama wants to protect the environment by investing in clean energy resources. He also wants to promote fuel efficiency. Barack Obama wants to reduce lead and mercury to protect the health of communities.
Immigration: Obama believes that America has nothing to fear from immigrants. He wants to tighten security for border control to reduce the number of illegal immigrants. He wants to create a pathway to citizenship for immigrants, but they have to earn it.
Iraq War: Obama does not oppose all wars, but opposes the Iraq War.He wants to have all troops pulled back from the Iraq War by 2009.
Economy: Obama wants to provide a tax cut for working families and small businesses. He also encourages trade with other nations to strengthen our economy.
Poverty: Obama plans to increase the minimum wage to $9.50 an hour for working parents by 2011 and induce tax relief for low and middle-income families.
Stem Cell Research: Obama is for stem cell research because he says that they might hold improved treatment for people with Alzheimer's disease, diabetes and a lot more. He believes that stem cell research will save millions of lives' of people.

Environmental Issues

1. Environment (climate, change, and global warming) - You can’t say that our human activities like burning fossil fuels, agriculture and land use isn’t affecting our environment. Though global warming may be a natural occurrence, these actions are contributing to it. Also, greenhouse gas emissions let off carbon dioxide, which is essential to keep the Earth warm, but excessive carbon dioxide will be lethal for our planet.

2. Off-Shore Drilling – The U.S. is running out of oil, and running out fast. Our gas prices are reaching around $4 per gallon and it’s still increasing. We need oil to supply our country, but off-shore drilling comes at a price. When you off-shore drill, you put the environment in danger. Oil and other harmful liquids from the gas tanks could leak into the ocean, and since oil doesn’t dissolve in water, it floats on top of it. This results in killing off a lot of marine life. Also, birds that fly into the ocean to eat fish get their wings soaked in oil and they drown. Off-shore drilling will limit our fossil fuels since gas is such a high demand at the moment and there is not enough oil to meet the demands. Though off-shore drilling may harm our environment, we need oil.

3. Nuclear weapons – Nuclear weapons are weapons of mass destruction. Two nuclear bombs, Little Boy and Fat Man, have been used and they were both for war. When used, nuclear weapons let off harmful radiation, cause blast effects that kill hundreds of thousands of people, and cause thermal effects. These effects usually occur within seconds or minutes once activated. They also cause long-term effects like damaging the environment over time. Those reasons are why countries are deciding if they should have them at all and how much nuclear weapons they should have if allowed.

Political Stands of Candidates

John McCain: He is for protecting the environment and plans reduce the amount of CO2 released by the greenhouse emissions. McCain plans to lift the ban on off-shore drilling. John McCain supports nuclear weapons because he thinks it’s naive to say we’re never going to use them.

Barack Obama: Plans to protect the environment and using non-destructive resources by improving CO2 greenhouse emissions. Obama plans to make oil companies limit their use of off-shore drilling. Obama wants to greatly reduce the use of nuclear weapons.


Personal Reflection

When I first heard about the environmental issues, I didn't really know what they were until I researched. Now I understand why they are so important to us and why we need solutions for them. A solution to lessen the effect of global warming is to limit greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, there won't be dangerous toxic chemicals floating around to the atmosphere. Off-shore drilling is another issue. A resolution to decrease the oil spills is to be more careful and fix the drills and machines so they won't spill and leak as much. The final problem are nuclear weapons. We should have them just in case. There could be a time when we might have a need for them. Who knows when we'll use them?